The Cruelty of Humanity
by Silverskye13
Summary: In this world it's kill or be killed - that is the law of the Underfell Universe. Too bad when a human stumbles into the underground, that spineless brother of the Great and Terrible Papyrus is useless in stopping it. Now it's time of Papyrus to fix this mess, even if it kills them both.
1. Chapter 1

Papyrus growled under his breath as he stormed down the path from Snowdin, puffs of magically heated breath spewing past his fang-like teeth in curling wisps. A younger version of himself would have laughed at this, playfully dubbing it 'dragons breath' as he huffed and snarled through the snow. That same playfulness had been tempered into something much more keen and dark in the years of his life here, curling and twisting into an ever deepening sadism. The world was cruel. The living had to be crueler. That was the way you survived. The dark foreboding of this credo tingled in every one of his bones like magic and left a bitter taste in his mouth. A taste like dust and dying. He enjoyed it. It made him feel secure. He knew in a world as cruel as this, he was one of the survivors.

His brother, however, was not. And that was why he was out here now as opposed to waiting out the bitter cold of the Snowdin evening in the relative warmth of his own home. Not that the cold rightly bothered him. Smothered in armor and stripped of any of the messy organs that froze or shivered in this weather, he could feel self-assured and comfortable no matter how the temperature dipped. On the coldest nights when the very air seemed to freeze, he might wonder faintly that his soul would get too cold, his bones a bit more brittle. But he wasn't going to worry about that, because Papyrus had no intention of being caught in the bitter cold and dark over something as stupid as looking for Sans.

He had resigned himself to one evening of search. _One_. But it was the lazy bone's own fault if he fell asleep in the snow and froze his fragile little soul to pieces. Yes, that fragile soul that had never once been strong enough to house more than a single hit point. His brother could say all he wanted about being adept with magic, he could lord those blasters of his above the rest of the monster world and leave a few of the weaker ones shaking in their sight. But Papyrus knew Sans' true weakness lay in his lack of stamina and pitiful vitality. And he seethed in bitter rage and worry now that his brother was late coming home.

Worry. That twisted up nauseous feeling that even the Great and Terrible Papyrus couldn't find it in him to ignore. It was an uncomfortable, unforgiving and completely irrational feeling that Papyrus hated with every ounce and fiber of his magically infused body. He hated it to death, to _dust_ even. The only monster in this twisted up world Papyrus ever worried about was Sans. And he resented his brother for it, oh did he ever. He went out of his way to make that useless slob's every day a living hell just to get even, and then worried himself sick even still when the bag of bones stayed out too late drinking or missed the ferry back into town to avoid being mocked by Papyrus' presence. And then Papyrus hated him more, and the cycle started all over again.

Honestly, he didn't even know why he bothered.

Papyrus gave an angry growl and stomped down unnecessarily hard on a branch as he passed it, snapping it in half with a sickening crunch. He imagined if Sans' bones would make the same noise if he broke them, nonexistent stomach squirming when he reminded himself that Sans only had a single HP, and such violence was impossible without dusting the useless wretch. That was probably the most annoying thing of all about Sans. Because he kept himself in such a miserable state, Papyrus practically had to tiptoe around him to make sure he wasn't killed by something meaningless. Like being shoved too hard against a wall during an angry fight, or a poorly timed dodge of something thrown at him. Or even - Asgore forbid - something _even stupider_ like a branch falling on him while he was walking or tripping and falling too hard against one of the ice patches that littered Snowdin like a minefield.

Papyrus ground his teeth angrily, trying to stomp down that worming feeling of worry as it slid around where his stomach would be. The entire situation was _infuriating_. Almost maddening. If Sans just took better care of himself Papyrus wouldn't even _have_ to resent him. _Have_ to worry about that miserable excuse for a monster.

Papyrus was so enraptured by his own bitter thoughts he didn't realize he'd passed his brother's post until the Ruin doors came into view. The armored skeleton abruptly stopped walking, a snarling grimace twisting his features. He harumphed a disgruntled sigh, annoyed at his own carelessness. That clawing worry rumbled hungrily in his chest as he turned to backtrack. Sans hadn't stopped him as he'd walked past.

Papyrus shrugged off the thought - of course the lazy bones was probably asleep. Probably slouched over behind his post or maybe even thinking clearly enough for once to hide before falling asleep so no monsters would take advantage of his vulnerability. That was why he hadn't noticed his idiot brother as he passed. And if not, it was certainly why the worthless pile of bonemeal hadn't acknowledged his passing. Now was not the time for irrationality. The sun was getting lower, the forest contorting into sickly and grimacing shades of blood and bracken. There was a tingle in his soul that told him the temperature was dropping, an extra bite to the frost in his breath.

He needed to get this over with before his incompetent brother managed to kill himself with cold. As much as Papyrus resented Sans, a begrudging part of his soul admitted his brother wasn't completely expendable to him yet. There was something that held them together still, something that forced him to care even when he battled his mightiest not to. His one weakness. His single remaining piece of sentimentality. The single light left to flicker across his dark and pitiless soul.

A light that fluttered quite painfully when Papyrus came to a halt at his brother's sentry station and the good-for-nothing was nowhere in sight. He frowned, his breath winding past his nonexistent throat in an aggravated growl as he peered all about the destitute little station and came up short. He could have smashed the thing to pieces there if it weren't counter productive to him. He settled for kicking it instead, shaking the wooden frame with his intent and sending snow scattering off the dilapidated roof.

"Sans!" Papyrus barked, his voice bellowing in the void-like landscape, "You useless pile of trash, show yourself!"

Red eyes, glowing brightly with infuriated magic cast about the road and what little of the dense forest he could see, waiting for his idiot brother to stir from a nap or call off an ill-attempted joke. He was greeted with icy silence, his own call warping into something hopeless and bitter as it echoed back to him. Nobody answered. Nobody came. Something in Papyrus' soul gave a painful jerk, his worry going from a background hum to a fever-pitched static that set his bones quivering ever so slightly. His cold confidence began to slip into something that felt much less self assured and much more forlorn.

 _No!_ The Great and Terrible Papyrus didn't worry needlessly about a useless monster who couldn't even remain at his own post for a day. If this was worry, he refused it. No, this _must_ be indignation he was feeling. How dare that miserable sack of filth abandon his post and refuse to return home in his own pathetic shame of his shortcomings? How dare he avoid Papyrus, slinking around behind his back knowing he would be punished for his misdeeds and idiocy? Oh he wasn't getting away from this _that_ easily.

"I'm going to kill him," Papyrus growled deep where his throat should be, his very ribcage vibrating from it. He ground his teeth together and clenched his fists in an effort to stay calm. He took a few steps back away from the station, assessing the landscape for any sign as to where the insufferable piece of trash had wandered off to. That's where Snowdin's only redeeming quality came into play - with little wind to disturb the landscape and barely a flurry of snow, footprints could be easily spotted and followed with little effort or skill. And footprints Papyrus found, scattered about the little post and storming deeper into the forest and away from the path. His brother's shoe prints were intermingled with something else as well, something small and stumbling. As well as running, if the space in between them was any judge.

The angry snarl that clenched the tall skeleton's jaws slowly sunk into something more perplexed, puzzling almost. He stepped cautiously to the side of the footprints, following them from a few steps away - hopeful not to disturb them in case he'd need to retreat in the same direction after them. The forest here was dense and dark, the burning hues of the magically infused sunset sending contorting shadows across the snow-strewn floor. Gnarled roots burst free of the snow only to snake their way back beneath it, acting as hp leaching traps for unwary footsteps. Claw-like branches grabbed at Papyrus' armor as he passed, snagging his cape and yanking at him uncomfortably, strangling him with their closeness and bitter touch. As if the world itself were reaching and dragging him, clawing against his frame as he struggled away from whatever benign malevolence they could be concealing.

He nearly lost the trail in the maze of roots and broken branches at least a dozen times, forcing himself to backtrack and at times follow it closer. There were gaps and jumps in the footsteps, stutters where they took flying leaps over fallen logs or corkscrewing roots. A few times Papyrus saw the telltale rips in the earth from bone attacks, long streaks spattered in red gouging across the disturbed landscape before fizzling out uselessly against trees or rocks that broke the ground. A few of them still sizzled with dying magic - whatever altercation had occurred hadn't happened long before Papryus' passing through. The hard ridges of bone above his eye sockets lowered at this, his teeth clenching with nervous intensity.

Of course, Sans could take care of himself. For all his shortcomings as a lazy prick, he had a fight in him that was hell peppered with tasteless jokes and a disgusting mustard tang. And from the looks of it, whatever had pissed him off had taken damage and left it bleeding behind them on more than one occasion. If Sans had any sort of bite behind his pitiful bark the monster would be dead by now - it was shameful how he had to beat something to death slowly the way he did. One could argue cruelty Papyrus supposed, but the reek of laziness took all such assumptions away.

Still, from the way the creature was fleeing it seemed to Papyrus that, whatever it was, it was too weak to defend itself and must have surely perished by now. He should have passed Sans returning from his hunt, or at the very least found some sign that his brother's footprints had backtracked towards his post again. Perhaps even felt that itching, twitch-like shudder that told him the lazy bonehead had used one of his disturbing shortcuts to retreat. But instead there was nothing - just scraggly footprints and some strange leaking death trail. The red of it looked entirely too much like the magical mess Sans lost whenever he got sick after a few too many drinks at Grillby's, and for a soul-stopping second Papyrus wondered if his brother had been injured.

This thought was dismissed almost instantly when he reminded himself that Sans would be dust the instant that happened, and this goosechase through the woods would have stopped immediately or, perhaps, never have started.

Papyrus ducked under a few more threatening boughs before finally emerging into a clearing of sorts, the forest giving way and opening up before him as if it had never been in the first place. He heaved a sigh of relief, releasing the claustrophobic tension that had pressed in on him as he'd pitched and stalked his way through the forest. The world here was bright compared to the gnarled darkness he'd been smothered in, and he held a hand up to shield his eyes from the burnt sunset as it glared over the clearing. It refracted across the frozen glade in dipping shades of crimson and indigo shadows, the bloody spatters from his brother's wounded prey nearly lost to the pooling colors.

Near the center of the clearing, the snow was churned and destroyed, rifts and furrows ripping through the ground in a chaotic fury. The remains of a fight, no doubt. The reek of spent magic bit at Papyrus' nasal cavity as he stepped towards it. His eyes fixed on one particularly violent slash that had torn up the earth and snow, and the mysterious lump on the ground that very much looked like a head and shoulders slumped inside it. Papyrus strode towards it, that feeling that he was so convinced _wasn't_ worry building up as an ache behind his ribcage. Yes, he could see it now. That was Sans. Obviously sleeping - Papyrus refused to believe any differently. His hoodie was stark and black against the sunset-painted snow, his head lulled forward slightly so it was nearly hidden against the mound of fluff that clumped around his collar.

"Sans!" Papyrus barked, and the body gave a shudder. It stirred but didn't move, more a flinch than anything. It didn't rise to greet him. Didn't torture his nonexistent ears with his shameful humor. Papyrus nearly gagged on the mix of rage and anxiety that squirmed through his soul. He was nearly there, his boot prints mingling with the scuffled marks of battle. Twice he stumbled, tripping through a vicious dip Sans' attacks had carved through the ice and snow and swearing accordingly as he did so.

He staggered to a stop beside his brother, towering over the small skeleton's shuddering form. He had a hand buried in the fabric of his jacket, resting over his ribcage where his soul should be. It took a second's assessment for Papyrus to tell his brother wasn't injured - despite what his desperate grip over his soul implied. It took another second to become the most bitterly enraged, passionate angry he'd ever been in his life. That sick not-worry in his chest melted away into an even more nauseous and furious mix of relief and hate.

But before he could say anything, as was his brother's most annoying habit, Sans spoke first.

"Do you think our lives pass in front of our eyes before we turn to dust?"

Papyrus suddenly found himself struggling with keeping his anger on track, instead of letting it derail itself into whatever that emotion was that had been trying so stubbornly to claim him all evening. That resentful worry that just wouldn't die no matter how hard he stamped it down. He took the time to look his brother over again, reassuring himself that he wasn't injured once again - which he wasn't.

"I bet it sucks."

"What the hell is this tripe about?" Papyrus demanded much more harshly than he needed to. He was past the point of feeling ashamed for it though, confusion and worry only working to fuel his anger more. Sans didn't seem phased. He blinked slowly forward once, his face a mask of apathy cast in the dying tones of the sunset. If they were outside much longer, Papyrus doubted there'd even be enough light for them to find their way back again.

"I found a human today."

"You... _what?_ "

"Yeah, a pipsqueak of a kid," for as lifeless as Sans looked on the outside, his voice managed to hint at pleasantry. He raised a hand slowly, measuring off someplace a few feet off the ground.

"Yea tall. Brown hair," his shoulders jerked in a mockery of a laugh, the sound wheezing past his teeth like a death rattle, "Pretty weak. Just kept crying and running away like a spineless little coward."

"Well if they were such an easy target, why aren't they _here_?" Papyrus demanded, eyes scanning the field and coming up short of the prize he _knew_ should be there, "And why don't you have their soul?"

Sans didn't answer, though it seemed to the taller brother that he sunk in on himself a little. Papyrus hissed out a sigh, his voice dropping into a low growl.

"You. Let. Them. Go."

"Yep," his voice was scarcely above a whisper.

" **W h y**."

Sans flinched at this, managing a very nervous laugh past teeth that were starting to chatter from fear. Papyrus could tell his brother was shaking, terrified. Sans refused to meet his gaze, refused to defend himself or acknowledge the dangerous tone in his brother's voice.

"C-couldn't do it."

"Couldn't do **w h a t** **?** "

"They just…" Sans huffed out a nervous breath, steadying his voice, "Just kept sparing me. I-it didn't feel right. It derailed me. I couldn't… it was _insane_."

He was shaking harder now, the weight of Papyrus' glare working far better than any words the skeleton could ever conjure. That was one thing Sans was good at - punishing himself. His own mind ran rampant and chaotic and self destructive as a curse. Papyrus let it happen. Watched him break himself apart.

"I couldn't kill them when they weren't fighting back. They were supposed to fight back. I don't understand. Why wouldn't they… why…?" Sans shook his head, choking on something that couldn't possibly be a sob, because as weak as Sans was he couldn't possibly be _that_ weak.

"And it didn't matter anyway," Sans continued feebly, "The longer we went the better they got at dodging my attacks. Even the blasters. I had… _have_ … nothing left."

Papyrus scoffed, finally yanking Sans' gaze away from the snow and up at his face. There was a clawing desperation in his eyes that Papyrus was understanding. This was why he hadn't come home. Why he had chosen to just sit and waste away here.

"Ah the cruelty of humanity," Papyrus hissed passed clenched teeth, "And you were too weak to stop it."

Sans swallowed hard and dragged his gaze back down to his feet.

"You realize what happens now."

It wasn't a question. Sans knew. Papyrus knew. But he continued nonetheless, drilling home what he was sure Sans had been pining over ever since his fight had ended.

"As soon as the human is spotted, and you're found alive, everyone will know you couldn't kill them."

Sans nodded, the emotion on his face fading once again into the shocked apathy Papyrus had found him steeped in.

"Any monster worth their grit will know you're fair game. Just another way to advance their own position. Easy LV, free XP. Just dust waiting to happen."

Sans shuddered and dropped his face into his hands.

"And if they don't get you, it's treason. The King will find out. Undyne will be sent out after you. Or possibly even me. Now isn't that a fight worth imagining? Though I suppose if you won you might manage to redeem yourself, make yourself a suitable excuse as to why you could kill another monster and not some pathetic child."

There was a moment where Papyrus considered his brother before adding one final thought.

"But we both know you can't dodge forever."

Sans shuddered.

There was a pause in which they both processed what was going to happen next. Papyrus wasn't sure what he should be feeling. His anger was fading, churning around where his gut should be and tempering itself into something else that he couldn't yet identify. There were any number of things he could do about this. Only a handful of them he _should_ do. The question now was whether he would actually intervene or leave his brother to deal with the consequences of his own ineptitude and stupidity.

Though he had a sneaking suspicion that from the way his brother had been speaking earlier, he'd already decided he wasn't going to deal with the repercussions.

"I'm going to die."

"Of course you are," Papyrus snapped matter-of-factly, dragging a shocked look out of his brother, "You don't have enough intent left in you to do the work it takes to dig yourself out of your own gave."

There was a pause between the two of them that dragged on for several minutes. One where that dreadful, worming feeling in the pit of Papyrus' nonexistent guts reached an annoyingly intense pitch and he struggled to keep his cold composure. One where Sans blinked forlornly down at his feet, rolled one of his knuckles between two bony fingers in a nervous stupor and pined over what to do next. Finally, with something like a sigh that was… a scary bit more determined than Papyrus had expected of the hopeless monster, Sans got to his feet. He glared up at his brother with a look that was both resigned and resolute.

"Alright, you do it," he said as firmly as he could manage, though there was an unmistakable break at the edge of his voice that betrayed how torn apart he actually was. For as great and terrible as Papyrus was, there was a pang of something uncomfortably like fear that ran through him for a second. He blinked and scowled.

"Do what."

It was more a demand than a question. Though he knew already. He knew and he didn't like it.

"I'm dead anyway," Sans said, his voice urging towards a hoarse and cracking whisper as he spoke, "I've screwed everything up. I know that. I can't redeem this."

He sighed out a harsh and bitter breath, "And if anyone is going to benefit from this, it's going to be you. Not some damn random monster who gets a cheap shot in at some point."

"You're insane."

"Insane?! You just said so yourself!" Sans snapped, taking an angry step forward, "There is nothing I can do to fix this! I had a chance and I lost it! I was too weak! I couldn't kill that kid. I've been over it for the past I don't know how long, ever since that kid left. I can't beat Undyne, boss. _Maybe_ I could beat you."

Papyrus scoffed.

"But I'm hopeless against the both of you, and against any other monster who decides I'm easy pickings," the shorter skeleton growled, "As soon as the guard finds out, you'll be sent after me anyway. To make sure you're not weak as well. Too weak to kill a traitor. To advance your position."

There it was again. That worming feeling that was sending pangs through Papyrus' bones like some kind of spreading poison against a bleeding pulse. Suddenly he was finding it annoyingly hard to breathe, a building and angry pressure in his ribcage pulling back against every breath he took. He felt passionately something. Passionately angry, enraged and sick and whatever that not-worry was, all jumbled up together in a body that shouldn't even be able to feel. It pulsed about him like bitter miasma, that building potential before the break of something magical and destructive. Something of it showed in his expression, in the way his body tensed, because suddenly Sans was taking a step back. That look of resignation was turning fearful again, though he refused to run. His feet weren't placed to dodge, his magic not braced to attack. Suddenly Sans was the smallest, the most frail and simple thing Papyrus had ever seen.

That rotting, festering feeling squirmed up into Papyrus' ribcage and bit at his soul, and something where his throat should be nearly tensed itself shut.

Slowly, second by second, the bristle in Papyrus died. That fearful magic dropped.

Sans blinked at him, his face a mix of a hundred feelings that varied from relief to confusion.

Papyrus sighed out a tense breath past his clenched teeth, "I. Refuse."

"What…?"

"I will not give you an easy way out of this!" the taller skeleton snarled, a feeling like indignant rage bubbling up through his insides, "You are going to try to fix this, if it kills us both! If you're so keen on becoming dust so easily, at least go out fighting."

Papyrus abruptly spun on his heel, stomping back through the snow in the direction he'd disappeared from.

"The Great and Terrible Papyrus will not have it known his brother was a weakling _and_ a coward!"

There was a reluctant pause before Papyrus heard the sound of Sans' feet crunching after him. They were slow at first, hesitant and confused. But as the distance between them grew, Sans jogged to catch up. He fell in step just to the side and a step behind Papyrus.

"What… what are you going to do, boss?"

" _I_ am doing nothing," the skeleton snapped, a dangerous red glare glinting in his eye, " _We_ are going to kill that human. And _we_ are going to dust anyone who says differently."

Papyrus. Refused.

That writhing, bitter feeling in his soul _refused_.

Someday, he would rid himself of that feeling. Of that need to keep Sans alive. That angry longing for one person of loyalty and some phantom of trust. But today he wasn't able. He _couldn't_ kill Sans.

But he could kill anything, everything else.

Even some scrawny human that had proven his brother too weak to survive in this world. This world was kill or be killed, after all. Papyrus was plenty good at that.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

* * *

Aya I don't know when to stop do I?

Anywho, this is just an idea I cooked up in my spare time as a pet project while I was working on other, bigger things. Based originally on a drawing I did over on my DA account. Apparently my brain is incapable of keeping any idea _small_ , so instead of staying a short drabble, this has slowly ballooned into it's own story. I won't be posting this nearly as often as the other story I have in progress, just dabbling on it when I'm burnt out on the other or feel like adding on. I don't even have solid plans for the next chapter yet, just that there **is** going to be one XD

So uh, bear with me as I figure out what happens next? And if you've got any ideas throw 'em my way. This is still pretty open at this point.


	2. Chapter 2

Papyrus wanted to sleep. Everything inside of him from body to soul was very suddenly gripped by the unexplainable need to collapse on the spot and sleep. It was a thing that happened sometimes, an urge he had learned to ignore in order to stay alive in a world where such pity and comfort could not be afforded, even for one's self. There was only time to rest in death, after all. The living had to work. The living had to _survive_ , to think, to plan, to study. Rest was for the weak.

He should add that to the list of things he hated about Sans - how often the little prick found time to rest. How often he _made_ time to sleep, to push away the horrors of their lives in favor of a mask of frailty and ineptitude. He could add that to the list of worries that twined around his soul in a sickening vice and choked him and bit him and forced him to care about that mewling _thing_ that couldn't seem to even kill a child without screwing something up. So Papyrus, the Great and Terrible, sat and glared angrily at that smallish, useless lump of a brother as he slept sprawled out across their sofa. He glared and his embittered soul squirmed over the issue of digging him out of the grave he'd so willingly leapt into in letting the human child escape.

It had taken the brothers nearly an hour to stumble their way home, Sans insisting his magic was too far spent to use a shortcut without risking falling down upon his landing. It had been a cold, brittle struggle between the ice in the air and the ice in their souls. If it weren't for the snow and the path Sans had left behind when he'd given chase, they wouldn't have made it back at all. They would have had to make some shelter out in that maze of trees and wasteland, found some way of keeping their souls from shuddering to a stop in the freeze in the darkest parts of the night.

Small miracles still existed in hell, it would seem, even if they were in rarity.

Papyrus had demanded they remove all trace of the chase away from Sans' outpost, at least for a few yards into the forest. Enough that none of the defiant teenagers looking to catch a fight in the forest wouldn't stumble upon the track blindly and incriminate the skeletons prematurely. It was a demand that Sans had questioned but given into the logic of almost immediately - more than a little scared of what Papyrus might do to him if he insisted on refusing. The human hadn't made it into Snowdin yet, or at least not since Papyrus had left the bitter shambles of a town when he'd gone searching. If they had, he would have been forced to confront the creature there, and would likely have presumed his brother dead and not even bothered to search - what tiny piece of his soul that could still feel something for his brother shuddered at that. At the very least, Papyrus would have known already that the human was at large, or would have been confronted by whatever soul-empowered monster had killed it. Erasing the tracks around the outpost would assure that, if the human remained unfound by morning, Sans would have some sort of protection until it was. A few hours to plan and still before the storm of the inevitable broke upon them.

Of course, Papyrus was the one awake and stewing over possibilities. Not the sluggardly trash that now slept and dreamed in relative comfort on their couch. Why was he even bothering to protect the wretch? Why not leave him to suffer in whatever fate he'd written for himself?

Papyrus ground his teeth when he couldn't admit an answer to himself.

He shook his head, as if he could physically rid himself of the laborious, savagely bitter thoughts towards the cause of his problems. Now wasn't the time to _dwell_ , to waste away on the miserable situation. Now was the time to counter.

The first puzzle Papyrus found himself circling in his mind was the issue of the child's unwillingness to fight. Everyone knew of the witch in the ruins, the boss monster locked up behind the only entrance for humans into the underground. Papyrus had heard, through rumor and history, that at one point in time the estranged woman had been Asgore's wife, a queen. Whatever madness had possessed her and forced her to flee, Papyrus did not know. At least it was implied that she left of her own accord, and was not hunted or banished by her husband for some misdeed. He did know she had been cruel, slaughtering any monsters that had stood in her way upon her flight, and many more who dared enter the ruins after her seeking asylum from the king.

How had the child made it past her?

The most logical thought Papyrus could form on the matter was that the child had in fact been forced to kill her. She was a boss monster after all, one beyond reason and with boundless power. He reasoned the child may have found a way to escape around her, perhaps worn her out like they had his brother and made an escape while she was collapsed and breathless. How many hours of fighting would that have been, wasting away the power of one of the strongest monsters known to their kind? Then of course, if the child had killed her, their LV was sure to be raised. Already possessed of the strength of a creature powerful enough to kill a boss monster, now empowered by the EXP they'd gotten upon her death. They should have made short work of his brother.

Sans shifted in his sleep, reminded Papyrus of his presence.

So what now then? What motivation could that child possibly have in sparing Sans? There was none, he figured, unless there was something the piece of garbage hadn't told him. Papyrus could probably intimidate more details out of the sniveling thing, but had no patience for it. Not now, while their lives were so dependent upon action. When had this become _his_ problem again?

With a growl, Papyrus got to his feet, massaging the space beside his cracked left eye socket with a bony hand as he turned to pace.

Right, planning. That was what he was supposed to be doing now. They needed to track the human, _discreetly_. Which meant that Undyne's Guard were out of the question. Not that Papyrus particularly enjoyed having the mutts' help even as guards. They were mostly useless, only really good for chasing their own tails and spreading fleas and disease. Why Undyne insisted on keeping them around was beyond Papyrus' understanding… and his paygrade. .He had to admit - begrudgingly - that what few things they _could_ do, they were adept in. Their sense of smell was key in tracking most anything in the Underground, as violent and dust-strewn as it was. If the human didn't leave a clear trail in the forest, if they had any sense at all in covering their tracks, they'd be nigh impossible to find without the dogs' help. Not until they'd made their presence known in some dramatic way.

Then, any possibility of killing the human in secret and shoving Sans' mess under the rug would be impossible. Papyrus stopped pacing, the brows above his eye sockets lowering in a troubled glare.

If ordered to… could he kill Sans?

He liked to think that he could. He really did. Nothing was impossible for the Great and Terrible Papyrus, after all! There had once been a time, when he was young and naive, when he thought it would be impossible for him to kill _anyone_ , after all. What folly that looked now when placed beside the cruelty he'd managed to commit willingly in his lifetime. But the fact remained that, over the years, he had never killed Sans on his own. No matter what hatred or motivation he could concoct for himself, he had refused. Whenever his brother had made him so angry he was seeing red, he'd refused. When the moment presented itself to better his position on the Royal Guard from it, he'd refused.

When Sans had looked up at him in the clearing, determined and broken and accepting all at once, and told him, almost begged him to kill him… he'd refused.

Well, let it be known here and forever that Papyrus, the Great and Terrible, had finally run away from a fight. How pathetic of the esteemed Second-in-Command, Right hand of Undyne, The Bane of Snowdin. That worming, gurgling, sickening weakness he so despised in his brother had crept into his soul like a disease and given him a glaring vulnerability. The gap in his armor, the missing scale in his impenetrable defense. The thought made the skeleton feel sick.

If it was a choice between his own life and his brother's, could he kill Sans?

Papyrus turned slowly from where he'd stopped pacing by the stairway banister, gaze resting on his brother as the skeleton snored away unwittingly. He slept sprawled about and exposed, completely trusting of this monster in his house who had dusted countless monsters throughout the course of his life already, and was sure to dust countless more. He slept heavily and soundly, undisturbed by the impending, damning presence or the harsh footfalls that paced or stopped. Papyrus' soul writhed, the space where his throat should be clenched. Even Sans knew Papyrus could never kill him. Not now, not as they were. Not while that sliver of attachment, that bond of blood and bone existed between them. That bond that had never been broken, that had tempered itself harder under the strain of coexisting in a world that only ever spat at them dust and hopelessness.

If the entire Underground called out to Papyrus, fists shaking and magic boiling, hungry for freedom and war and bloodshed, everything they had ever wanted standing at the edge of the barrier with that human soul that Sans had let escape, and demanded he kill his brother, could he?

Papyrus refused to admit the answer could ever be 'no'.

The bitter skeleton resumed his pacing, re-centering his thoughts on the task before him. There were any number of things he could do, a fair number of options that were already unavailable to him, and several more he might be able to convince himself to try. The forefront of his planning now focused on them capturing or killing the human before any other monsters realized its presence. That route at least afforded Sans the highest chance of survival. Whatever they would do should the human be discovered, that was what worried him. He'd have to come up with a suitable excuse for Sans being unable to kill the child - which would be easier if the child actually put up a fight. But if they insisted on cowering and fleeing, well, then there was no excuse, and Papyrus was a terrible liar and at a loss for fabricating one. If he managed to kill the thing then there was a possibility he could use the soul as leverage to a pardon his brother, but he doubted such a thing would actually work.

The skeleton avoided the thoughts altogether about what could happen to _him_ if monsters found out he'd harbored a traitor, a criminal, and attempted to cover his mistakes. Possibly at the cost of monster lives, depending on whether or not the human finally determined themselves to kill.

Papyrus kicked the nearest wall with an exasperated growl. It stung and rattled his bones inside his armor and gave the cheap plaster a nasty dent. There was no use in pursuing other possibilities. For now, he'd have to make this up as he went. Pray they could capture the human before too many monsters spotted it. With a heavy sigh, Papyrus crossed to their front door and slumped down against it, elbows resting on his knees and his gaze transfixed miserably on their carpet. He wished it would look normal for him to stalk through the night looking. At the very barest, he wished it were daybreak.

He waited for the sun to rise.

Several hours passed before Sans stirred and finally awoke from his uncomfortable slumber on the couch. Long enough for Papyrus to slip into some semblance of a blank doze during one of the stiller swirlings of his thoughts. When he heard the movement, he was awake in an instant, dark eye sockets flickering to life and darting towards his brother. The shorter skeleton was peering at him from the couch, a look of anxious concern grimacing its way across his face. His eyes scanned the room warily, finally settling on his brother.

"Uh… any particular reason you're guarding the door, boss?" he asked cautiously as he stepped away from the couch. Papyrus could've laughed. Was that what he thought he was doing? Instead he settled for getting to his feet and making his way into the kitchen. Sans crept a step or two away from him as he moved, his look wary and his body posed for flight. He was just a second away from using a shortcut. Papyrus ignored it. The slob could be as jumpy as he wanted. For now, Papyrus had no reason to act against him. He'd spent all night trying to find a way to avoid that, after all. The skeleton dug his way through their cabinets, trying to find something to eat. The thought glanced through him that, depending on how the following days went, this might be his last chance to enjoy a meal in his own home. Brilliant.

Sans watched him warily from the doorway as he finally decided on some leftovers and threw them in the oven to reheat. Papyrus sighed a bitter growl in his direction.

"I highly recommend eating something instead of just standing there and staring at me like a moron," he spat, his brother's frown deepening a bit as he spoke, "You have no idea how much you'll need it."

There was another pause where Sans didn't move. Papyrus rolled his eyes and made himself busy ignoring it. He was halfway through his breakfast before Sans finally spoke up.

"I don't understand boss. Why haven't you changed your mind yet?"

"Changed my mind on what exactly?" he countered as disinterestedly as he could manage.

"Uh, I dunno, going through with all 'a this?" Sans gave an incredulous laugh, a tense and whining sound that dragged through his throat like gravel, "Why haven't you called the guard on me yet? Why hasn't Undyne kicked down the door and dragged me off?"

Papyrus barked a harsh laugh, finally lifting his gaze from his food to glare deep into the eye sockets of his brother, "Well why go through all that trouble, Sans, when I could've just dusted you in your sleep?"

Whatever train of thought the shorter skeleton was on was derailed momentarily. He opened his mouth to retort back, only to pause and stand there balking. Papyrus took that moment to rise to his feet and step forward, towering over his brother, red eyes glittering imposingly.

"Tell me something Sans," he rumbled, "What did I just get done saying last night?"

His brother glared up at him suspiciously, shoving back the urge to take a step back in the face of Papyrus' looming presence.

"... you said we were going after the human."

"I did. And why are you questioning that now?"

Sans glared up at him silently, searching the taller brother's face as if it could reveal to him some trap he was missing. Maybe he should make this simpler.

"Sans, am I a liar?" Papyrus asked, raising one of the bony ridges above his eye sockets questioningly. This ripped a nervous laugh from the shorter skeleton.

"What? N-no, of course not. Heh, even if you wanted to you can't lie for shit."

Papyrus narrowed his eye sockets at his brother, looming an inch or two closer, "Have I ever been deceptive?"

This finally unnerved Sans enough to force him to take a step back. He scrutinized the taller skeleton before answering.

"... Not… really?"

"Then why the hell are you wasting my time on this conversation!?" Papyrus spat, his voice quickly jumping from the soft, tired rumble to something much closer to an angry shout. Sans startled back a step in alarm as Papyrus snarled and continued, flourishing his hands as he spoke, "I, out of some kindness in my soul, have decided to help give you _one last chance_ at making it out of your pathetic situation without becoming another pile of dust on the floor of this miserable world. Take it for what it is and _work_ , or go turn yourself in and be done with it!"

Papyrus turned on his heel and strode back into the kitchen, his appetite now sufficiently ruined. Sans followed after him, obviously not as done with the conversation as the guard captain wanted him to be. The taller skeleton grumbled as he threw his breakfast in the trash.

"This is insane, you know that right?" Sans pressed, his voice a broken up, anxious huff, "If you help me - boss you're gonna get caught. You're gonna get stripped of your rank, your position. Hell, they might even kill you too."

"Sounds like fun," Papyrus muttered past grit teeth. The response ripped another bit of nervous laughter from his brother.

"Fun? Bro, you love your life. You've worked hard to get where you're at!"

Papyrus brushed past him towards the front door, "Well maybe I'm bored. What a grand puzzle, trying to weasel you out of your stupid situation."

There was a hitch, a disorientating yank on the space around Papyrus, and Sans was suddenly in front of him and barring his exit. Papyrus glowered. Sans glared back up at him, defiant.

"Just give up! You can't fix this!"

What little patience Papyrus had left snapped in an instant. He yanked up his brother by the collar of his shirt and slammed him back against the door, rough enough to rattle what reserve he'd managed to build up, but not quite hard enough to do any real harm. There was a tense silence between them where Papyrus just held him there, letting his pest of a brother dangle there dangerously. Sans blinked up at him, his face a mask of a grimace.

"I can do _anything I want_ ," Papyrus hissed at him, his voice a low growl that rumbled from deep in his ribcage, "Which _includes_ fixing this mess."

He abruptly dropped Sans, letting him collapse to the floor in a heap.

"You want a reason?" Papyrus glowered down at his brother, balling his fists on his sides, "You're the biggest asset I have, as useless and idiotic as you are. And I will need your help in capturing that human, if your fight with them is any judge. _And_ once I have that human's soul in my possession, my status will increase tenfold. Maybe even enough to replace Undyne as the Captain of the Guard. And just in time for us to go to war with the surface. How _marvelous_."

He paused just long enough for Sans to get back to his feet before continuing.

"For now, my presence will be needed on my regular patrol route. I need to keep an ear out for whatever trouble that brat might have caused in the night," he hissed, and Sans nodded obediently, " _You_ on the other hand, are dust if anyone realizes the human slipped past you. So you will remain out of sight. Use a shortcut, go back to where you fought. Track that human to wherever it's hiding and meet me back in the clearing by sunset. And for the love of Asgore, don't get caught, don't do anything _stupid_ , and _don't go to Grillby's_. That bartender couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it."

Sans nodded again, stepping out of Papyrus' way as the guard reached for the door handle.

"And do remember," he fired over his shoulder before leaving, "If anyone sees you today before that human is killed, you're dust."

"Yeah boss."

With one last, intent-filled glare, Papyrus stormed out the door. He slammed it shut behind him for emphasis, picturing the cringe it would probably elicit from his sniveling brother. The little bastard was worse off than he'd thought, giving up already. Was _that_ why he'd slept so much? Just figured he wouldn't have to wake up in the morning? Well, what a rude awakening the rest of his miserable life was going to be in comparison! No, if Papyrus wasn't done, Sans wasn't allowed to be done yet either. Papyrus massaged beside the crack in his eye tiredly, his soul bitter and exhausted.

This was going to be a _long_ day. At least he could take some comfort in doing his normal morning rituals in relative solitude.

The first thing he made sure to do was make his presence known in the still waking town. He stopped in at Grillby's to check on the guard - a looming shadow in the background, listening only for a few moments to make sure they hadn't been alerted to any suspicious activity in the area. They weren't. Well, now his clothes would smell like grease for the next week - just one more inconvenience to add to the growing list. At least he managed to slip out before he could be harassed about Sans' tab. He ducked into the shop just long enough to buy himself a handful of the awful tarts she was selling that day - likely bribed into selling them by the spiders. If they were nothing else, they might be a small bolster for hit points later.

Then he continued on to his normal patrol. He checked every trap and every sentry post at least a dozen times looking for a trace of the human as the day progressed. Much to his growing relief and annoyance, he never found a sign of the creature's passing. Some passing bit of hope in his soul wondered if perhaps the human had frozen to death in the night, having gotten lost in the tangle of forest. It would mean, of course, that there was a human soul rotting out there with no hope of being found. But it would also mean all of his worry had been for naught. He could go back to pretending his life was normal, go back to hating his brother with every inch of his being and stop pining over the possibility of a deadly sort of confrontation between them. Everything would make sense again.

As the day progressed, Papyrus began regretting more and more that he hadn't slept at least a handful of hours the night before - especially with not so much as a hint of the human appearing. None of the dogs reported any unusual smells or sounds. All of the monster teens that had fled to waste their potential in the wilderness were on some level accounted for - and none of them spreading any hysterical rumors. _And_ in some stroke of serendipity, Sans even did as he was told. Not once did Papyrus spot him by his station, or anywhere else inside or outside of Snowdin. Even checking back home yielded that his brother hadn't insisted on wallowing in self-pity there.

Yes. Everything was going well. Now if only they could find that damn human.

Come evening, the guard began retracing their tired steps back into Snowdin, Papyrus maintaining some face in following them back like he normally would. He eyed the darkening sky, hazarding to guess that he had an hour before he needed to meet Sans back in the clearing. It would take a bit of finagling around, but he was sure he could make it back without being spotted or called out. At the very least he could make the excuse that he hadn't seen his brother come home yet.

The troupe had hardly crossed the bridge into town when a loud howl split the air, pealing shrilly against the frozen air. It rose up in pitch and fell again before cutting off abruptly, leaving the air ringing in its absence. Every one of the guard stopped in their tracks, heads snapping back in the direction of the sound. Ears were perked, hackles rose. Papyrus ground his teeth in frustration.

It had been a warning cry. _The_ warning cry. The signal of a human being found.

"Who was that?" Papyrus demanded, his voice starting the dogs from the growling stupor the call had thrown them into, "Who's not here?"

Dogaressa spoke up first, "Lesser Dog isn't here."

Dogami whined beside her, "(A human? A human. There's a human!)"

Greater Dog gave a heartening yap, taking a threatening step back in the direction they'd come. Papyrus thought his soul might shatter. The other dogs turned to move after him.

"No!"

All the guards jumped back a step, cocking heads worriedly to the side. Papyrus scowled down at them.

"Do you _see_ how late it's getting?" he shouted, ushering randomly in the direction of the dying light, "I will not have you all scattering to who knows where in the dark with a human on the loose. You're staying here. Get ready to evacuate monsters if I'm not back in an hour."

This seemed to quell the enthusiastic dogs… at least for a moment. Greater Dog yapped after him insistently one more time, hackles still raised and ready for a fight. Doggo stepped forward with him, eyes shifting warily as he barked out, "Did Sans come back? I don't see Sans either."

This brought another round of growls from the gathered dog monsters, pensive shifts as they looked nervously up the path.

"You just stay ready," Papyrus growled back to them, throwing a little more emphasis on the command _stay_ than he probably needed to. He stormed off in the direction of the call, the direction of Sans' outpost. Behind him, he could hear the dogs barking and growling amongst themselves about what to do if Papyrus didn't come back. That was absurd though. Papyrus, the Great and Terrible, would not be as easily put off by the human child as his brother had been.

The air shivered with his magic just at the thought.

Once across the bridge Papyrus was running, exhilarated by the thrill before the fight. He made short work of the distance between him and his target, long legs carrying him far and fast, tireless stamina propelling him steadily. It was minutes to Sans' outpost, and just a second's sweep to tell him whatever Lesser Dog had begun chasing, he'd chased off in the direction of Sans' fight from the night before. Papyrus narrowed his eyes and dashed off down the trail - now harder to find but a bit easier to follow once found. He ducked and clamored, crashed and crunched, yanking tree branches out of his path and scoring his way through the cluttered roots. And as he went he could hear Lesser Dog barking and snarling, the sound getting louder and more pronounced the further he went.

"I smell it I smell it!" he howled, voice breaking across the shattering and icy landscape as it bounced back to him from a thousand places, "I smell it give it _find it_ human I smell it!"

Papyrus stumbled upon the clearing, fully expecting to see Lesser Dog chasing a small human around in circles, snapping and snarling. He found instead the dog gnashing its crooked teeth at _Sans_. The absurdness, _wrongness_ of it stopped Papyrus in his tracks, if only for a moment. Then he was surging forward, magic crackling around him in angry huffs, swords of bone already flaring into existence in his open and expecting palms.

"Find it _kill it_ give it!" Lesser Dog barked, flecking slobber and grit at Sans as the skeleton huffed and dodged again and again, ducking away from his spear and teeth and kicking limbs, " _Kill it kill it_ human I smell it on you smell it _human human!_ "

Lesser Dog leaped, jaws open and snarling for any part of Sans he could grab. The skeleton yanked his hand forward, the color in his eye flaring to life as he prepared to grab the dog's soul. He was a second late. Papyrus intersected the manic monster in mid-air, a solid kick to the ribs sending him yelping and sprawling across the snow. Lesser Dog hardly managed to get his feet underneath him before Papyrus' bone swords were upon him, shattering spear with one blow and bursting through his chest plate in the next. The dog shattered to dust with a pitiful whine.

Papyrus watched as the monster's dust settled, his soul giving a subtle tug as a meager amount of EXP was added to his stores. It wasn't enough to raise is LV, not by a long shot. But he had to admit, the feeling was cathartic. He felt _controlled_. Whole. He let the swords crackle out of existence, his magic settling with a huff of a sigh.

"Are you _insane_?!" Sans shouted, cutting off the moment of peace just as quickly as it had settled on the taller brother, "You just killed off your own guard! What the hell? Why didn't you just-"

Papyrus spun abruptly to face his brother, cutting off whatever else Sans was going to say before he could manage to choke it out.

"You had _one_ job!" Papyrus shouted, taking a threatening step towards Sans, magic once again bristling and roaring, "Find the human and stay out of sight. Was that really too much for you?!"

"Hey whoa, it wasn't my fault," Sans put up his hands placatingly, "He just… he came out of nowhere! I was looking for the kid I swear. I just got back here and he just… exploded out of the trees."

Papyrus stomped a heavy boot into the snow, enraged, " _And_ you didn't even manage to kill the blasted thing before he could sound an alarm. Then _entire fucking town_ knows there's a human at large now. You almost had the entire guard on this site. That's _your dust_ on the ground, you lazy piece of shit, not Lesser Dog's!"

Papyrus let out an angry shout and turned on his heel to pace angrily, stalking around the spot where the dog's dust had fallen as if he could somehow will the thing back to life - just to kill it again. He made a few circles around the pathetic little pile before he managed to calm enough to speak again.

"At least _tell me_ ," he snarled, grinding his sharpened teeth, "You managed to find _something_."

Sans shoved his hands in his pockets, glaring into the snow at his feet.

"Yeah, I found something," he grumbled, voice muffling a bit as he hunched his shoulders and turned his face into the fluff on the lining on his hoodie, "A nest I guess. 'S where the kid set up camp last night I guess. 'S why I smelled like the kid so bad I guess. They had enough sense to sweep up their trail. Couldn't find much to say which direction they went."

Papyrus could've killed something all over again. It was all he could do to keep his body still in spite of his mounting frustration and exasperation. Some nagging voice of reason grabbed his attention before he could lose himself too much in it though. Right. The guard. He'd told them an hour hadn't he? How much time had passed?

"We'll talk about this at home," Papyrus snarled, huffing out a cold sigh, "I don't need the guard breathing down my neck before I can come up with an excuse for this."

He jabbed a bony finger at Sans, "You stay out of sight."

Sans nodded, shuffling his left foot back a step. There was a jerk in the space around Papyrus, close enough to make him nauseous, and then Sans was gone. Papyrus then turned and made his own way home, fighting his way through the darkening forest as night fell. He made it back within his appointed hour, just barely. The guard had already begun suiting up in armor when he crossed the bridge into town. When questioned, he answered only what he could without explicitly lying.

Lesser Dog was dead. The human was still out there somewhere. He remained coldy silent when asked about his brother. He was tired. That angry, worming worry that had been stirring in him for the past few days was making itself known again in the pit where his stomach should be. Even when he collapsed into bed it insisted on biting at him, keeping him awake and nagging at him for excuses, for what to say and how to act. He needed to know, needed to _think_.

He would have Undyne to contend with in the morning.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

* * *

Yes, I headcanon UF Paps can't lie for shit XD I think it might add to his edge. Like on one hand, he's pretty transparent, so he'd have a hard time usurping anyone subtly, but damn son you know when he wants to kill you. And if he says a thing he's gonna make good on it. No idle threats with this angry skel.

Next chapter's gonna be fun to plan. Especially the Pap/Undyne bit. I have some fun dialogue in mind already B)

Still, this story is only updated on a whim, so please excuse it if it goes a few weeks before a proper update is made. This is like... the guilty pleasure piece I'm nursing in the back of my mind when Casting Rain is burning me out (haha, fic about a fire elemental, burning me out, hahaaaa okay i'll go to bed now).


	3. Chapter 3

Papyrus awoke sometime in the middle of the night unable to sleep any longer. There was a restlessness in him that set him wide awake, an itch just underneath the surface of his bones that told him to move. He needed to wake, he needed to plan. He needed to survive. Papyrus lay in bed, glaring steadily at his ceiling. He could fix this. He had to fix this. He was the Great and Terrible. He could right this sinking ship before the entire thing shattered into a million peices.

Undyne would be here in a matter of hours he was sure.

What could he _do?_

He needed to find the human. That was something he couldn't manage while it was still dark of course, not without the clever nose of a dog guard guiding him. According to Sans, the small creature had left no tracks behind to tell them what direction it had gone. But then again, there weren't many directions it could go. Assuming the human had any idea of how the underground worked, they would know their only escape was in crossing the barrier. That meant getting past the King.

That meant leaving Snowdin.

And there was only one land bridge that connected Snowdin to Waterfall. The human would have to pass through there. Then they could disappear into the labyrinthine mess of caves in Waterfall. They would be much harder to find, but even then there was only a single bridge leading from Waterfall into the Hotlands. There was only a single elevator that lead to the King's castle. This was for strategic reasons of course. No single region of monsters could ever gang up on the other to assert control - the bottleneck that came from a single passageway meant that a large loss of life would be involved in passing it. Criminals leaving one zone would be easily caught entering another. Humans had only one direction they could use to get to their freedom.

If Papyrus was to capture the human, it would have to be on one of these points.

The greater problem now, even greater than catching that elusive human, was finding a way of keeping Sans from being dusted. The sleazy bag of bones certainly wasn't making the task _easy_. Getting caught by Lesser Dog. Somehow managing to smother his clothes in human scent. How was he supposed to explain _that?_ Well, nobody _had_ to know Lesser Dog was chasing Sans when he was killed. But if Undyne did any investigating into what had happened _at all_ \- which she inevitably would - she would get the dogs to recognize Sans' and Papyrus' presence there in the clearing, and maybe a wiff of human as well.

And Papyrus was a shit liar.

With a disgruntled huff, the tall skeleton shambled his way out of bed, his head buzzing with a tangle of ideas and explanations that he was shooting down as quickly as he was thinking up. All the while, he ignored the obvious answer: _turn Sans in_. Throwing his brother to the wolves would at the very least free him up to find the human on his own. It might remove a burden from his life. Maybe even add to his prestige and the fear surrounding his name - The Great Papyrus, so cold hearted he would even betray his own kin. But he'd already decided that wasn't an option, in some skewed together mix of optimism and pride he clung to the idea that he could fix this without immediately killing his brother.

Papyrus stalked downstairs, surprised to find Sans sprawled out across the couch instead of his bed like he should be. And to add to the strangeness, the shorter skeleton was _awake_. He was staring up at the ceiling with the most forlorn and contemplative expression. When he noticed Papyrus, he sat up.

"What are you doing down here?" Papyrus demanded - though the tiredness in his voice leached away any ferocity he had tried to muster.

Sans shrugged, "Couldn't sleep."

"Well, there really _must_ be a human in the underground, if simple miracles like this are possible," the taller skeleton mocked, though once again much less heartily than he'd normally manage. He made his way into the kitchen, intent on getting some breakfast before he inevitably fell to ruminating on the hopelessness of their situation once more. To his growing annoyance, Sans followed him. Papyrus ignored him, grabbing himself out some leftover spaghetti and tossing it into the oven to reheat.

"So uh, not to sound ungrateful or anything," Sans hissed from the doorway, his voice muffled just a bit as he hid his face in the fluff of his hoodie, "But why'd you bother with killing Lesser Dog, anyway? Wouldn't it have just been easier to stay out of it? Let things run their course?"

Papyrus crossed his arms with a scoff, "Have you ever known me to take the easy way out of anything, Sans?"

"No," the skeleton shrugged, " 'specially not recently. But hey, you'd finally be rid of me. Doesn't that seem appealing at all to you? Ya know. After _all those years_ of putting up with my bullshit? And after all the hell this fiasco has already caused?"

"Sans if I didn't know any better I'd say you had a death wish," Papyrus huffed as flippantly as possible. He took his time removing his warmed spaghetti from the oven, enjoying the silence that finally reigned over them. He didn't need Sans' pointless rambling ruining his breakfast, _especially_ after he'd ruined so much already. Papyrus could feel more than see Sans scrutinizing him, judging him quietly, but he chose to ignore it. It wasn't until he'd finished his breakfast that he started speaking his thoughts aloud again. Sans noticeably flinched when Papyrus' gruff voice shattered the heavy silence between them. He addressed Sans coldly with the kind of calculated words and posture of a general commanding some underling. It was… oddly out of place in the casually drab atmosphere of their kitchen.

"Today I want you to take me to where that human set up their camp," Papyrus snapped, leaning back in his chair as he organized his thoughts, "We need to get _some_ bearing on where they went."

Sans gave a tense smile, "I toldja boss, they didn't leave any tracks behind. The kid's smart."

"It is a _child_ ," Papyrus growled tapping his bony fingers against the table, "Children are fearful, panicky little creatures. They make mistakes, they don't know any better. Unless of course this child isn't _alone_."

The skeleton narrowed his eye sockets at his brother, "When you attacked it, was it with anyone?"

"Nah, I didn't see anyone with the brat," Sans grumbled, "Besides, what monster in their right mind would help some human?"

Papyrus nodded, the nervous staccato of his fingers against the table consuming the conversation for a moment.

"You uh… plannin' something?" Sans prompted.

"Not yet. I don't have enough information," Papyrus muttered, annoyance bubbling around in his ribcage, "But -"

A heavy knock cut him off. Well, it wasn't really a _knock_ , per se. It sounded much more like someone was trying to kick the door down. Sans spun to face the door, panic making his magic flare to life. Papyrus lurched to his feet, reaching a long arm out to grab Sans by the end of his hoodie.

"Don't you _dare_ teleport," Papyrus hissed, "Anyone nearby will feel the ripple."

"What the hell do you want me to do then?!" Sans growled, his voice almost lost underneath the angry beating on their front door. Papyrus cast his gaze about their kitchen quickly, the lights of his eyes settling on the overly-tall cabinet at the back of the kitchen. With a growl and a yank he pulled Sans to the cabinet and tossed him inside. He just barely managed to collapse back into his chair before the door swung open, the lock broken from all the rough handling. Papyrus scowled. He'd _just_ gotten that door fixed a few weeks ago.

"As destructive as always, Captain," Papyrus growled as Undyne stalked through the ruined doorway. He could tell from a glance that she was already taking this human threat seriously. She had full armor on, her helmet held firmly underneath her arm. She looked like she'd managed to collect a few more scars since Papyrus had last seen her.

Undyne snorted at him in reply, dark eyes glimmering in the light of his kitchen, "Well maybe if you actually _greeted_ your guests while they were knocking, you wouldn't have to worry about your door being kicked in."

She sat down on the chair across from him, leaning back in it to rest her crossed ankles on his table top. Papyrus tried not to grimace at the disgustingly display. Undyne never failed to make herself comfortable in _any_ company. At least she seemed to be in a decently good mood for once - a violent, overzealous kind of mood. But that _was_ good for her.

"You know it always surprises me how clean you manage to keep this wreck. I should have you redecorate my house sometime," Undyne said with a rough sort of pleasantry. She'd used her voice for far too much screaming and yelling at subordinates, it almost always sounded like some sort of growl or another anymore. In spite of it though, she still managed by some miracle to sound _pleasant_ when she spoke with Papyrus, like she was actually talking to a friend or a similar substitute. After having been on the receiving end of all of her insults and snarls, it was still jarring to hear her speak in normal conversation. Sometimes he wondered if she actually took their rivalry seriously.

"I highly doubt I can replace your current style tastes," Papyrus replied, doing his absolute best to stamp down the annoyance in his voice. Staring at her feet on his table was making his hypothetical blood boil, "Unless you'd like your entire house decorated with tacky bone-based decor."

Undyne shrugged, "I've been craving a change of pace anyway."

A dark grin curled across her lips and she bared her teeth in a sharp grin towards Papyrus, "It's about time some dumbass human fell down here. I've been getting _real tired_ of the same ol' Underground day in, day out. You can only settle property disputes and slap around shitty gangs for so long before everything get's _boring_."

"Is _that_ why you've chosen to invade my home at Asgore-knows what hour in the morning?" Papyrus asked disdainfully, finally giving in to his annoyance and gingerly sliding Undyne's feet off the table. Her boots hit the tile floor with a heavy crash of metal, "Boredom?"

Undyne's smile slackened into a smirk, "You're my right hand monster, Papyrus. I had to meet with you at _some point_ to start working on this mess."

"And it couldn't wait until morning?" Papyrus grumbled.

"Oh please, it's not like you sleep anyway."

"I was enjoying my solitude for once," Papyrus snapped, "I don't get it often."

The rest of Undyne's smile crumbled away, replaced with a heavier sort of frown. She narrowed her eyes slightly at him, her ear frills giving a thoughtful twitch. Whatever piteous look that was supposed to be, it was already grating against Papyrus' nerves.

"Dogamy told me about Lesser Dog," she said after a pause, "He and Dogaressa took me to the clearing."

Papyrus' annoyance was suddenly washed away by that clawing feeling of worry that he'd managed to _finally_ stamp down. Shit. _Shit._ So soon? He hadn't expected -

"I'll give you some serious credit Papyrus. I have absolutely no idea how you managed to get there and back without getting stupidly lost," the captain said with a growled laugh, "I mean, you had some light to work with but still."

Papyrus blinked at her, keeping wisely silent. Undyne smiled at him, her eyes cold and severe.

"So, here's what I know. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong," she hummed, "You, Lesser Dog, Sans and a human have all been through that clearing. Lesser Dog is dust. The human is lost out there somewhere. From the looks of it, Sans and the human have probably had it out with each other at least once out there..."

Undyne tapped one of her clawed fingers on the table, emphasizing her next words, "And you're home _alone_."

Her previous smirk had twisted itself around into a frown now. Papyrus watched her tensely, realizing belatedly that in his nervousness he'd balled his hands into fists against his table top. He frowned stubbornly back at Undyne as she looked him over expectantly, as if waiting for him to say something, to frame himself. If it was a battle of wills, Papyrus' was the stronger one. Undyne broke away from his gaze and spoke first.

"Listen, Papyrus, I understand there's a lot of mess between you and your brother, alright?" she began, her voice heavy with measured severity, "I also understand that you're _still brothers_. That's not lost on me."

"What are you implying?" Papyrus finally managed to get himself to speak. It was a lot… softer than he'd intended. But at least he didn't sound nearly as nervous as he felt.

"I know you killed Lesser Dog," Undyne growled, frowning, "It's kind of hard to miss the damage your swords made on the dog's armor, you know. And the only reason I can think of you doing something that _stupid_ is if Lesser was going after Sans."

Papyrus scowled. He was starting to feel sick from how nervous he was, his soul shuddering around in his chest like some pseudo heartbeat. His hands were clenched so tightly his knuckles were getting sore.

"I've honestly got no idea why Lesser Dog would attack Sans. I mean, the guy's a joke, but he's still got a bite that would put Lesser to shame, with those freaky skull things of his. So I guess what I'm saying is - that dog had to have a damn good reason for going after Sans."

A pause passed between the two monsters. Papyrus could feel Undyne scrutinizing him, taking in how nervous he looked. She was taking in every tiny, damning sign that said Papyrus was quiet and angry for reasons completely unrelated to her kicking down his door or being up too early in the morning.

"Papyrus, you're going to have to give me some answers here," Undyne growled finally, "Because right now the pieces I'm putting together are making me think Sans might be helping that human."

"Sans is _not_ a traitor," Papyrus snarled back, "He's a piece of shit, Undyne, but he isn't _that stupid_."

"Sure he's not," Undyne snorted, "He's friends with Alphys. Of course he's got some brains somewhere in that skull of his. Enough brains to, say, make you go stomping all over that clearing and muddle up scents and tracks?"

"Now you're just sounding paranoid."

Undyne huffed out a sigh, knitting her hands together in some display of pity and disappointment that was _really_ starting to grate against Papyrus' nerves. She paused, seeming to collect her thoughts for a moment. The silence that passed between them was tense. It tasted like vinegar and bad decisions, and as much as Papyrus didn't want to admit it, it was worrying. What worried him the _most_ was that… this wasn't how he was expecting her to react, for things to go. He was used to Undyne's _anger_ , her destructive determination. He wasn't used to… whatever _this_ was. This… genuine emotion, pity. This _thoughtfulness_. He'd glimpsed it a few times, sure, but it was never for so long, or directed at _him_.

"Listen, Papyrus," she breathed finally, wrapping him up in a concerned glare, almost looking through him with those amber eyes of hers, "I know we've had our spats and rivalries before, and I gotta admit, it's made me pretty fond of you."

Papyrus blinked at her. His surprise must have been written across his face, because a smirk twitched at the corners of her mouth at it.

"You've got spirit, and you're not afraid of asserting yourself over all the shit that roams around this place. I respect that! I like to think I can actually depend on you for stuff like this," she continued, waving a hand at nothing in particular, "With this human walking around, I _need_ strong monsters who can take it out. And I'll need you even more when we get that human soul and finally bust out of this place. But you're coming up to a dangerous decision. _If_ I'm right, and Sans is a traitor-"

She held a hand up, cutting Papyrus off before he could shout the retort that had slipped across his teeth, " _If_ I'm right, you're gonna be choosing between dusting him and doing something _really stupid,_ like helping him. And I _know_ it's far-fetched that you'll help that dirt bag with anything, alright? But no matter how much you hate the guy, you're still brothers, and that's dangerous. Trust me, I know."

Papyrus frowned, narrowing his eyes at Undyne, "How are you so sure about all of this?"

"I dusted Gerson, remember?" the Captain said with a rueful sort of smile, her eyebrow raising slightly, "That monster practically raised me. But he did the stupid thing and helped the last human who passed through here, didn't he?"

Papyrus blinked at Undyne as she seemed to get… smaller. Her ear frills lowered slightly, the look in her eyes getting distant at the memory. This was… very new. She looked so _weak_ , so _bare_. She might as well be showing the skeleton her soul. An uncomfortable, crawling sensation made it's way up Papyrus' spine. She… _trusted him_ with this? Why the _hell_ was she telling him this?

"Anyway," Undyne huffed out a heavy breath, "It was hard, okay? It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. But at the end of the day, a traitor is still a traitor, and it had to be done. Gonna be honest, I'm still kinda messed up over it."

The Captain shook her head, as if she could rid herself of the melancholy that had settled across her shoulders as she spoke, "So… I guess all that to say - remember what's important. And if you need it - which I _doubt_ , what with all the 'cold, ruthless, unfeeling' schtick you got going on - I'm here for you. I cannot afford to lose a monster like you at a time like this."

Papyrus for the life of him couldn't decide what to say or how to feel. This entire conversation had thrown him completely off-guard. He hadn't expected this to go nearly the way it had gone, and he had no idea how to respond. Undyne just confessed some world-shattering moment of weakness for her - and she was giving him advice? Compliments? Trust?

They'd been struggling back and forth with their power rivalry for years. Ever since Papyrus has come into Snowdin, screaming his proclamations about how he was going to become the new Captain of the Guard, they had been butting heads. They argued, they fought, they questioned each other's authority. It had never occurred to Papyrus that Undyne might consider that challenge a friendly one - one worthy of camaraderie and respect. And here she was spilling her soul out to him as if they respected each other, as if they held some kind of relationship past petty rivalry. He… didn't know how to respond. And he was still trying to convince himself that the display wasn't moving. Trying to tell himself it _didn't_ feel good to know someone held him in some sort of regard other than fear or spite.

Undyne scowled at him, the angry bite in her voice pulling Papyrus back to reality, "You just going to stare at me like a confused moldsmall or are you going to say something?"

"Sorry," Papyrus finally managed to stammer, forcing his scattered thoughts to focus, "I'm… honored to have your support, Captain. But I believe your erm… worry is unwarranted."

"Yeah whatever," Undyne stood, replacing her helmet under her arm as she turned to leave - the confession must have made her uncomfortable as well, "Get your dogs moving at daybreak. I want that human found."

"Yes Captain."

"I'll have some patrols keep watch around the bridge into Waterfall," Undyne hummed, "Find me when you've got anything worth reporting."

"Yes Captain."

As she ambled off, Papyrus couldn't stomp down the crawling feeling that he should say something after her. It was a weird, nervous, uncomfortable sort of feeling in his soul. But what in the world could he possibly say…? That would make sense...? Something that was equally genuine but - hopefully - not so revealing or vulnerable. Why were things suddenly becoming so complicated? He didn't need sentimentality clouding up an already skewed-about mess.

"Er… Captain?" Papyrus finally managed to call after her, rising to his feet slowly. Undyne paused in his shattered doorway, watching him expectantly.

"I… appreciate you sharing your experience with me," Papyrus stammered, the feeling and the words foreign against his teeth, "It's an honor to have your insight."

Undyne nodded, looking satisfied. She paused before taking her final steps out the door, a relieved smile on the edge of her voice, "You _can_ call me Undyne when it's just us. Loosen up a little sometime, nerd."

Just like that she was gone, vanishing into the dim, waking glow that had settled over Snowdin in the time she'd been there. The atmosphere around Papyrus, for a few seconds at least, was strangely light. Pleasant but still faintly confused. The crawling feeling of worry in his stomach had stilled, replaced with the calmer feeling of satisfaction.

That is, until Sans cracked open the door to the cabinet he'd been hiding in. Papyrus was back to scowling almost immediately.

" _Wow_ that was weird. I didn't know you two were that close," Sans coughed an uncomfortable laugh, "Should I be telling Alphys her girl is playing nice with other monsters?"

"Oh _please_ ," Papyrus growled patronizingly, rolling his eyes as best he could manage without proper eyes to roll, "Mutual respect and authority isn't only achieved through intimacy - obviously. I'm hardly a threat to that little psycho's relationship."

"Whatever you say boss."

It was an act of determination not to backhand Sans across the room. Whatever Sans was implying, jokingly or not, Papyrus wanted no part in it. He and Undyne were _rivals_ , he reminded himself. He needed to clear the odd, sentimental encounter from his skull and focus on the task at hand. The good news was Undyne had filled the gaps of the story in for herself, by herself, without any need for Papyrus to lie or make up some contradicting story. It still placed Sans in a bad light - honestly, how could she think the little sleezeball was a traitor? It made no sense! - but Papyrus was sure if he could get Sans to hand the soul over, it would clear his name enough to keep him from getting dusted. And maybe - _maybe_ \- Papyrus could use this newfound weakness in Undyne to his advantage. This foolhardy trust she'd decided to waste on him.

For now, finding the human took precedence - both because of the human's importance to his own plans and because finding them was a direct order from Undyne. He needed to play along for now, keep himself in good standing until he could twist the scenario coalescing around him to his advantage. He sat in silence for a few minutes, Sans watching him callously, reviewing all the information Undyne had given him. The most interesting thing to him was in the mix of scents in the clearing where Sans and the human had fought. If what Undyne had said was true, the dogs had been unable to find any trace of the human outside that field - which either attested to the dogs' fallibility as trackers or the human child's cunning. Papyrus was betting on the former. But this meant they hadn't found the nest the human had made, the one Sans had managed to discover. It was reasonably safe for Papyrus to check out without worrying about his scent being found and his loyalty compromised.

"Sans," Papyrus barked, startling the skeleton with the sudden break in the silence, "I want you to watch the bridge between Snowdin and Waterfall. There's plenty of cover there, if you're careful nobody will spot you. Keep an eye out for that human, make sure they don't get across."

Sans nodded slowly, "Sure boss. And uh… what about you?"

Papyrus grimaced, a snarl curling across his teeth, "First I want you to take me to where that little beast made it's nest, now, before I have to get the dogs mobile."

Sans frowned, "Uh… you sure? You don't do the whole uh… teleport thing… well."

Papyrus clenched a hand around Sans' shoulder, "Just get going. The sooner this is done, the better."

His brother shrugged, a nonchalant smile glinting in his teeth, "Whatever you say boss."

Papyrus felt Sans lean forward, as if the skeleton were about to take a step. Then there was a jolt that shuddered Papyrus through to his very soul, like the sickening pulse of electricity. For a shadow of a breath he heard an overbearing roar of static, every inch of his body and soul feeling numb with cold, his soul going sick. Then his feet were landing in soft snow, his world tilting as if he'd just taken a bad hit to the back of his skull. He leaned against the nearest tree, steadying himself as the queasy feeling of unsettled magic churned around where his stomach should be. He felt like his body had moved and the rest of what made him was elsewhere, slowly trickling back to him inch by inch. It was a nauseous, weak and shaking sort of feeling that left a bitter taste in his mouth and a dizziness in his soul.

Papyrus _hated_ teleporting. He wondered how in the world his brother could manage it so casually when he was so much weaker than Papyrus was. Or maybe that _was_ how Sans managed it so easily - he didn't have nearly so much magic that had to catch up with him. Ack, that guess sounded ridiculous. He probably shouldn't be wondering about something he knew nothing about.

When Papyrus composed himself enough to walk without the threat of losing the breakfast he'd just eaten, he lumbered further into the little corner of the Underground Sans had dropped them off at. Sans had been right in calling it a nest. The human had scooped out the snow amidst the tangled tree roots at the base of one of the trees, curling up inside to take shelter from the chill of the night. There also seemed to be the remains of a fire of some sort, small and pitiful. Though it was an accomplishment for a child. Papyrus didn't know of any monster children who could survive a night in Snowdin's wilds without help. That must be the human's determination working.

All around the little campfire and den were tiny footprints no larger than Papyrus' palm, a few of them scuffled over by Sans' own footprints from when he'd checked out the little hollow when he'd found it. The footprints never left the area of the camp. It was almost as if the human had simply evaporated into thin air. Of course, this was impossible unless…

Undyne's words from earlier crept to the forefront of Papyrus' mind. Sans could easily snatch up a child and carry them off... Papyrus dismissed the thought. It went against Sans' very nature to help a human. Even besides the fact that this human had practically ruined the little skeleton's life - and was probably going to be the reason it ended - helping a human through the Underground would take a lot of time and energy and nerve. All of which Sans didn't have. He was a coward, lazy, and cared for nothing other than his own well-being. It was a mystery how the child could cover their tracks so well. But if they could figure out how to build a fire and survive the wicked cold of Snowdin's nights, then they could surely find a way of sneaking about without being caught.

After Papyrus was content that he'd seen everything the little burrow had to offer, he and Sans jumped back home - this time Papyrus barely managed to keep from retching all over the floor. By the time the sky was bright enough to call it day, he was back on his feet and calling forth the guard.

The day passed in a blur of dog hair, snow and frustration. Of course Papyrus had to lead the dogs back to the clearing so they could try and find any more scents from the human - and also so they could identify the smell of the human later if they ran into it. Dogamy and Dogaressa had the best noses of the entire bunch, but even they were at a loss as to where the human had disappeared to. They could only follow the trail for so far into the forest before it was lost amongst the scents of the punk teenagers that wandered the forest, along with other scattered smells of flora and fauna.

Meanwhile Papyrus left Sans stationed at the river, instructing his brother to stay out of sight and _only_ move if the human passed by. He prayed the useless bag of bones had enough sense to stay awake while watching instead of falling asleep like he normally did at his station. He might just dust the little nuisance himself if he did. Papyrus let the dogs break their search around noon, both so they could get lunch and so Papyrus could check Sans' progress. He didn't make it there, though. He was on the path out of Snowdin when a call went off on his cellphone. He recognized the number - it was one of Undyne's guards. Papyrus grimaced as he answered, a bitter scowl contorting his features as they relayed their news to him.

The human had been spotted in Waterfall.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

* * *

Rawr. Friendly reminder this story isn't, in fact, dead. Just updating at a snail's pace.

Sorry this thing has been so slow to update! Once again - I'm working on this in between chapters of my bigger project Casting Rain, and with everything I've had going on this summer I haven't had much time. I have been chipping away at it slowly though! I just really hope the tone hasn't taken a dramatic shift since the last time I picked this up. I did reread the previous chapters, but still. I'm mildly worried.

Anywho! I'm hoping to get the next chapter out sooner rather than later. We'll just have to see.


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